Political witch-hunt continues
|
Samaraweera talking to his supporters outside the
CID office and Mangala with Ranil after the press
conference on Thursday |
By Mandana Ismail Abeywickrema
Last
week SLFP (M) Wing Leader Mangala Samaraweera and
Secretary Tiran Alles were questioned by the CID over an
alleged plot to assassinate a VIP.
Samaraweera claimed that moves to question both him and
Tiran Alles revealed that the government had begun a new
political witch-hunt. “It is yet another dictatorial
move to suppress the freedom of expression,” he told The
Sunday Leader.
Samaraweera claimed that democracy and media rights in
the country were at stake and that he would fight to
protect them at any cost.
He
said the SLFP is now on the verge of a huge internal
explosion due to the actions of the Rajapakses and
insisted that the impending general election and
possible presidential election have led the government
to embark on a witch-hunt to bring down its opponents on
various charges.
Government allegations
Since
his defection from the government along with Sripathi
Sooriyaarachchi in 2007, members of the SLFP (M) Wing
have repeatedly faced allegations made by the
government.
Sooriyaarachchi was even imprisoned on an alleged
misappropriation of public property charge.
Alles
was also arrested by the Terrorism Investigations
Department (TID) for his alleged links with the LTTE and
later released.
The
investigation resulted in the freezing of all bank
accounts belonging to Alles’ business and the eventual
closure of two newspapers printed by him — Mawbima and
The Standard.
The
government on several occasions claimed the newspapers
were sympathetic towards the LTTE.
Arrested at Nawaloka Hospital
However, the TID continued interrogating Alles and he
was arrested on May 30, 2007, while receiving treatment
at the Nawaloka Hospital.
Alles
was transferred to a government hospital following his
arrest. Alles was granted bail by the Magistrate’s Court
and was released on June 13, 2007. Finally, all charges
levelled against Alles were dropped earlier this year.
SLFP
(M) Wing Media Coordinator Ruwan Ferdinandez also
reported being in fear for his life as several
unidentified motorcyclists have recently been following
him.
Of
course in
Sri Lanka
this is hardly the first instance of a government
resorting to harassing and intimidating opposing voices.
Interestingly, the kind of democracy offered to people
by successive administrations bears no resemblance to
what they offered while in opposition. The intimidation
of opposing voices, both political and journalistic, has
been witnessed since the 1970s.
Following the take over of
Lake
House
in the early ’70s by Sirimavo Bandaranaike, President
J.R. Jayewardene in the late ’70s set a precedent by
taking over the Independent Television Network (ITN),
which was established by his nephews Anil Wijewardene
and Shan Wickremesinghe.
Take over of ITN
The
ITN take over came about when Jayewardene decided to
address the nation over television and the signal that
was broadcast was found to be poor. The government then
saw what is today a national pastime — a conspiracy
behind the interruption in transmission.
The
government used the Business Acquisition Act to take
over ITN. The army was reportedly sent to take-over the
station.
President Ranasinghe Premadasa, during his tenure also
acted on many conspiracy theories. Dissenting voices
were not tolerated from opposing parties as well as from
members within the rank and file of the UNP.
The
trend continued to President Chandrika Kumaratunga and
she even alleged that several newspaper editors, who
openly opposed her, were involved in a plan to
assassinate her.
Kumaratunga, who campaigned to maximise freedom of the
media pre election, finally ended up suing three editors
of private newspapers.
According to Samaraweera the whole CID interrogation
process is part of a psychological operation by the
government to silence dissent.
Plot to assassinate a VIP
Alles
was summoned to the CID on Tuesday (21) while
Samaraweera was summoned on Thursday (23) to record
statements with regard to an alleged plot to assassinate
a VIP. The CID had continuously questioned them of any
knowledge about a plot to assassinate a VIP.
The
statements made by Alles and Samaraweera were recorded
personally by the CID Director. Following responses in
the negative, the CID had questioned if they had any
links with members of the LTTE.
Upon
being asked if he had even heard a rumour about a plot
to assassinate a VIP, Alles had said he had heard of a
story that has been doing the rounds in political
circles. The story was of a plan to arrest UNP
Parliamentarian Johnston Fernando on an alleged
involvement in a plot to assassinate a VIP.
Alles
had told the CID that it was just a rumour and everyone
including Fernando and Samaraweera had heard of it.
When
contacted by The Sunday Leader, Fernando said he was not
aware of any story regarding a plan to arrest him. “It
is news to me,” he said.
After
interrogation sessions that lasted for about four hours
on both occasions Alles and Samaraweera were allowed to
leave.
|
CID director uncontactable
Several attempts by The Sunday leader to contact CID
Director, Ravi Vaidyalankara failed.
Mangala Samaraweera says:
 SLFP
(M) Wing Leader Mangala Samaraweera said the CID
interrogation of Tiran Alles and himself is the
beginning of a much more vicious witch-hunt than
before.
Samaraweera had received a telephone call on July 22
requesting him to appear before the CID at
10 a.m. the next day.
During the interrogation session by the CID
Director, Samaraweera was asked if he knew/heard of
any plot to assassinate a VIP. Whether he had any
connections with the LTTE. If he knew and met one
Emil Kanthan. And If he had close connections with
TNA MPs.
“Given the impending general election, the Rajapakse
family will act even more desperate in the days to
come,” Samaraweera said. “This has to be viewed in
the proper context — it is a dictatorial move to
suppress freedom of expression.” The government,
according to Mangala was worried about the formation
of an opposition alliance and is using the state
media to demoralise opposition members and
supporters of the alliance.
Conspiring to blackmail
He
noted that the government was conspiring to
blackmail certain UNPers to cross over. Referring to
the call by the CID to record a statement with
regard to an alleged plot to assassinate a VIP,
Mangala said, “It is a psychological operation to
silence me, but it should be known that when
provoked, I get more active.”
He
said the government is now feeling the pressure from
the war, especially the various acts of omissions
and commissions in the last few months. He says that
the government has understood it could no longer go
on the war victory alone as people have started to
think about their day-to-day needs.
“The government obviously has no plan and is now
beginning to feel the heat,” he said, adding that it
has now commenced to stifle the democratic
opposition in the face of an impending collapse.
Explosive situation
According to Samaraweera, an explosive situation is
currently building up within the SLFP. “The SLFP is
on the verge of a huge explosion. Despite the happy
faces, the differences between the leadership and
the ministers are now surfacing,” said Mangala. The
Rajapakses are trying to sideline the real SLFP
members by bringing in shady underworld figures and
other extremist factions to the party, he said.
Samaraweera recently wrote an open letter to all
SLFP members on the current destruction of the
party. He is now in the process of posting 50,000
copies of the letter to SLFP members island-wide.
According to Samaraweera the letter has had a
devastating impact on the Rajapakses. He pointed out
that the government has commenced a witch-hunt
against the SLFP (M) Wing in this backdrop.
Politically hounded and imprisoned
“In 2007 after our (Samaraweera and Sripathi
Sooriyaarachchi) defection from the government,
Sooriyaarachchi was politically hounded and
imprisoned. One year later, he died in a car crash
that still remains a mystery. General Secretary of
the SLFP (M) Wing, Tiran Alles was politically
victimised as no other politician in the country,”
said Samaraweera.
“He was arrested, his bank accounts frozen and staff
was victimised. Finally, two years later the
Attorney General’s Department admitted there were no
charges against him,” he said.
Samaraweera observed that the same witch-hunt has
now re-commenced.
“Tiran was ordered to appear before the CID to make
a statement two days before me. Our media
coordinator, Ruwan Ferdinandez has been threatened
and intimidated by unknown motorcyclists, who were
trying to follow him in the same manner they
followed Lasantha Wickrematunge before he was
killed,” he said.
Samaraweera noted that the present government had to
be changed in order to preserve democracy and
freedom of expression.
Referring to the threat to his life, he said there
is insecurity than before.
“The threats keep increasing every day. I now think
that it is an occupational hazard to endure in order
to help the country,” Samaraweera said.
Tiran Alles says:
 SLFP
(M) Wing Secretary, Tiran Alles was summoned by the
CID on July 21 to question him on an alleged plot to
assassinate a VIP.
On
July 21 morning, Director CID had called Alles and
requested him to come to the fourth floor to record
a statement from him. The Director had first asked
when Alles could make it to the CID. Upon being told
he would make the statement the following day, Alles
was asked to make the statement within the course of
the day, as it was ‘very important.’
“They asked me if I could come in the afternoon. I
said I was busy with some meetings and that I will
make it around 3.30 p.m.,” Alles told The Sunday
Leader.
Around 2.20 p.m. the CID Director had called Alles
once again to confirm the time. Alles made his way
to the CID at 3.30 p.m. and had been received by the
CID Director upon arrival. “The director himself
recorded my statement,” he said.
The interrogation according to Alles was based on an
alleged plot to assassinate a VIP and continuous
questions had been posed on the matter. “I was
continuously asked about a plan to assassinate a
VIP. I was asked if I had known or heard of any such
stories,” Alles said.
Another question posed to Alles was if he knew any
LTTE members and if he was in touch with them. “I
started to detail the whole story since 2005 and
since it was a lengthy story, I asked him to refer
to my statement made to the TID on the matter,” he
said.
Following the continuous questions on whether he had
heard of any story on an assassination plot, Alles
had referred to a story that has been doing the
rounds in the political circles for a while.
“I
said that I had heard of a story on a plan to arrest
UNP MP Johnston Fernando over his involvement in an
alleged plot to assassinate a VIP. This story was
known by everyone and in fact when I once told
Fernando of the story, he even said it is an old
story that has been circulating for the past few
weeks,” Alles said.
According to Alles, the whole interrogation process
was to intimidate opposition political members under
the present political scenario. |
Overwhelmingly Not in the
National Interest
By Faraz Shauketaly
The
verdict of the people is in. We asked you to vote on the
issue of the return of P.B. Jayasundera back in to
government service.
The
answer we received was an emphatic No — that his return
was Not in the National Interest. Readers have obviously
made their minds up as indeed did the Supreme Court
during public interest litigation that was instigated by
the formidable duo of Vasudeva Nanayakkara and Nihal Sri
Ameresekere.
P.B.
Jayasundera was castigated for his unlawful acts, for
his ultra vires actions and for misleading the cabinet
of ministers and even the President of the Republic. He
was asked by the Supreme Court with former Chief Justice
Sarath N. Silva in the chair, to provide an affidavit to
undertake and confirm that he does not hold any office
direct or indirect which can be construed as working for
the government. In a plea to the Supreme Court
Jayasundera asks for the annulment of that affidavit.
The case is fixed for hearing on August 3rd.
Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga, wrote to
Jayasundera asking him to return to the Treasury to help
the government with its development plans from a
financial perspective.
(faraz@thesundayleader.lk)
How
You Voted:
NO,
NOT IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: 91.04%
YES,
IN THE NATIONAL INTEREST: 8.96%
Two of
the more colourful comments we received were:
“Oh
No! It does not augur well.”
“Jayasundera’s recall is only self interest and has no
national interest. If the highest court of the land
found him guilty on the LMS issue how can he be so
honest?”
Voting
is now closed! Thank you for your public spirited
action.
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